At Least 24 Drown As Migrant Boat Capsizes Off Istanbul

At least 24 migrants, most or all of them reportedly Afghans, have died after the boat they were traveling in capsized off Istanbul on November 3.

Turkish media reports say that seven people were rescued and nine were missing from the stricken boat, which had set off earlier from Istanbul and had traveled through the Bosporus Strait on its way to Romania.

Reports say those on board were Afghans who had paid several thousand euros each in search of a better life in the EU.

Twelve children and seven women were reported to have been on board, the reports added, quoting a statement from the Coast Guard.

Two months ago, a boat carrying 82 migrants from Syria and Afghanistan to Romania was rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard off the northern coast of Istanbul.